Merchandise container



Sept. 3 0, 1935. Cl Wl BOSTON 2,@1399 MERCHANDI SE CONTAINER Filed Aug.5, 19155 NL M E Patented Sept. 3, 1935 UNETE STAT ESE;

Zlhitt PATtEN-'lf ENCE 2 Claims.

improved arrangement for supporting amovableV bottom of a container atvariouspositons.from

a lower container extremity toward its upper edges forpresentingsuccessiveV layers of articles in such manner as to cause`them to appear to be the firstlayer inthe container.

In selling articlessuch, as cigars, it has been,

found that customersr areV somewhat averse to selecting such, articlesfrom a container. which is partially r almost empty because, of' the.possi,.-V

bility, that the articles. in such container should not be fresh, orthatthey may` have been handled` eversione of this kind are,particularly noticeable, in. the Selling. of clears.Y where. several;layers are packed' a. containen and consequently, 4 it is somewhatdifficult to sellv Itis not feasible tereplenishV by other parties thelast layers. thesupply from a newly openedcontainer because the federallaws arer strict in regard to the use of tobacco containers upon whichtheiederal stamp has.V been aliiiedV In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of acontainer embodying the invention, andjwhich haspOltions brokenY away for the Sake of clearness;

l'igQZ isa fragmentary longitudinal section o f thecontainer;

Fig. 3j is afperspective ofj a supporting device for carrying the bottomof the container;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary, longitudinal section` similar to Fig. 2A andillustrating another form of container structure.;

Fig. 5 is a, perspective of a supporting device for carrying the bottomof the container shown in Figa; i.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of one end portion of a containerillustrating another form of mounting for the bottom of the container atvarious positions between the top and bottom of such container; and

Fig. 'l is still another form of connection between the bottom of thecontainer and the end Walls thereof.

Referring to Fig. l, the invention is shown as embodied in a containerl0 having end Walls l l, upright side Walls l2 and a hinged top l5. Eachend Wall I l is provided with a pair of upright supporting strips it,each of which has an outwardly turned` ange lll` secured to the loweredge of the end wall il by4 means of suitable fasteners i8l in the forniof bolts, screws, or the like. Another right angled flange i9 of eachsupport is bent 5 oppositely from the a'nge ll and provides means forsupporting a movable bottom 2l)v of the container.

It has been found` that the supporting strips ltv can be formed of thinmaterial, such as metal, l0 or the like, which has an appreciable degreeof resiliency, Ordinarily the fastening devices i3 provide forsuiiiciently rigidassembly to maintain the supports rmly in properposition, but if desirable the faces of these supports engaging thewalls of the container can be fastened to the walls either by adhesiveor other fasteningmeans.

A plurality of tongues 22 are stamped from the body of the supportingdevices It and are spaced in aligned relation from a position adjacentthe bottom of the container toward the top thereof. These tongues are sospaced as to project inwardly substantially at the division linesbetween several layers of articles of merchandise 25, each layercorresponding substantially` tothe distance 25V between one oi thetongues and the nextv succeeding upper or lower tongue.

In packing. the container with articles 25, the bottom 2li is positionedin the container in such manner as to rest upon the flanges I9.` In thisposition4 thevarious tongues 22 project slightly inwardly over the endYedges, of the bottom. Suitable layers-of paper, tinfoil or the like,indicated at 2.6, separate thevarious layers of articles of merchandiseand after the top `layer has been=solol the bottom 29 of the containeris moved upwardly until. the edges thereof snap. over the first tongue22 of each supporting device. it, thereby bringingthesecondlayerupwardly to a position formerly occupied. by` the iirst layer-oiarticles. Thebottom of the box isagain manipulated when the articlesfofthe successive. layersf have been, exhausted untilthe last layer of.ar-` ticles in the container is presented at the top of the containerand the bottom of the container is supported upon the upper tongues 22of the supporting devices I6.

Since the material lof which the supporting devices are composed issomewhat resilient, the edges of the bottom can be snapped over thetongues without difliculty and these tongues are suiiiciently strong tosupport the loads that are imposed upon them. These supporting devicesare concealed entirely inside the container and hence there is nolikelihood that the character of the movable bottom of the containershould be apparent to customers. Also, in view of the resilientcharacter of the tongues 22, the botto-m 2@ cannot be again moveddownwardly, and hence, the container cannot be refilled withoutdisassembling and rebuilding it. It will be observed that at least twoof the supporting devices IS are disposed at each end wall of thecontainer, and hence, there is an even distribution of weight anduniform adjustment in an upward direction as the several layers ofarticles are presented at the top of the container. A layer of paper 26is provided between the lower layer of articles yand the bottom of thecontainer in order to provide the appearance that there is another layerof articles beneath that which is presented at the top of the container.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the container l0 isconstructed in the same manner as that shown in Fig. 1 with reference toits ends H, sides l2, top I5 and bottom 2&3. However, a different typeof supporting device 2l is provided which has an inwardly turned flange23 secured, as indicated at 29, to the lower surface of the bottom 20and the supports are movable upwardly with the bottom. Each supportingdevice 2'i is formed of strip material and has tongue portions 3&3stamped therein, the upper end portions of which are sharpened and bentoutwardly, as indicated at 32, for the purpose of engagement in a recess33 formed in the end wall of the container adjacent the top thereof.Each of these supporting devices is also scored or weakened, asindicated at 35, from the opposite edges thereof to a location deiinedby the lower edges of the tongues 3G. Thus, a plurality of detachablesections 36 are provided in each supporting device and each of thesesections can be detached by manually bending it one or more times.

After the rst layer of merchandise has been exhausted from thecontainer, the bottom 2i! is moved upwardly until the upper tongues 3Bof the supporting devices project above the top of the container. Thenthe upper section 36 is bent and detached from the support and thesucceeding sharpened portion 32 of the tongue is pressed into the recess33 provided for each supporting device. This operation is continueduntil the last layer of articles is presented at the top` of thecontainer.

Referring to Fig. 6, a` portion of the container construction alreadydescribed is shown and each end wall Il is provided with recesses 40 forreceiving the outer end of a latch 42 that has an intermediate pivotalconnection 43 securing it to the bottom 2D of the container. The bottomis provided with latches at locations corresponding to the locations ofthe several supporting devices i6 shown in Fig. 1. The recesses 40 arespaced from the bottom to the top of the container according to thethickness of the layers of merchandise packed therein. In operating thistype of bottom, each latch 42 is pivoted from one recess at a givenlevel and the bottom 20 is moved upwardly to the succeeding recesses dfor supporting the bottom at the desired level and successivelypresenting the layers of merchandise at the top oi the container aspreviously described.

In Fig. 7, a similar construction to that of Fig. 6 is shown, but inthis arrangement, a latch 55 is provided with a central slot 56, and apin 47 mounted in the bottom 20 of the container eX- tends through theslot and slidably supports the latch thereon. Recesses 48 formed in eachend wall l I of the container are adapted to receive the end portions ofthe latch l5 ior supporting the bottom at various levels according tothe thicknesses of layers of merchandise packed in the container.

Although several forms of the invention have been shown and described indetail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that theinvention is not so limited but that various changes may be made thereinwithout departing from the spiritI of the invention or from the scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a merchandise container for presenting successive merchandiselayers in the top portion of the container, a movable bottom for thetom, a plurality of supporting devices composed of strip materialmounted in the container, one

end of the strip material of each device having portions for bending inopposite directions at right angles to the body of the strip to formiianges, one of the flanges being in the form of a tongue struck outintermediately from the body of the strip and secured to one of thelower wall portions of the container, the other iiange serving as asupport for the bottom, the body portion of each device having tongueportions struck out therefrom into the path of movement of the edges ofthe bottom in its movement from the bottom of the container toward thetop of the latter, whereby the bottom is adapted to snap over the tongueportions and be supported at various elevations between the bottom andtop of the container.

2. A merchandise container for presenting successive merchandise layersin the top portion of the container, a movable bottom for the container,upright walls surrounding the bottom, a plurality of supporting devicescomposed of strip material and mounted on the container walls forsupporting the bottom, each supporting device having struck out tongueportions and having weakened portions adjacent the tongue portions toprovide a structure including detachable sections, each section having atongue portion thereon, said walls having means for receiving the tongueportions of any of the sections in mounting the latter upon said walls,whereby the bottom is supported at various elevations between the bottomand top of the container.

CHARLES W. BOSTON.

